First Test of Misaligned Force, Experts Are Troublesome

Chen Wuya's palm was still pressed against the sand, his five fingers buried deep as the residual tremors traveled through the earth toward the Western Ridge. He suddenly pulled back his hand and sprang up, both arms turning like an inverted spinning lotus. Misaligned Force surged upward from the soles of his feet in reverse, forcibly driving the true qi that should have traveled through the Shaoyang Meridian into the Lung Meridian instead, charging toward the Jianjing Acupoint. This move had no form or logic to it; even he himself could not say where the force came from. He only felt a slanted palm force bursting from his hand, striking straight for the opening beneath his opponent's ribs.

The foreign expert's pupils contracted slightly. His feet did not move; he merely turned half an inch to the side as his massive axe swept half a circle, its flat back striking precisely at the weakest point of the palm wind. With a muffled thud, the force was deflected diagonally upward. The recoil shot up Chen Wuya's arm into his shoulder, numbing his right arm and making his body sway half a step.

He did not stop.

His left foot skimmed forward in a feint, while his right hand clawed fiercely at the air, seeming to aim for the man's throat. In truth, the Misaligned Force abruptly shifted into his left leg. He twisted at the waist, and his left knee slammed like a cannonball toward the site of the old injury in the other man's knee. He remembered that the man's left foot had lagged when he walked earlier. Though he had concealed it well, every exertion of force required an extra half-breath to adjust his center of gravity—there lay the flaw.

The expert snorted coldly. Rather than block, he abruptly